


Zinnia

by willow_larkspur



Series: Prideful Blossoms [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Autistic Harry Potter, Autistic Luna Lovegood, Background Relationships, Desi Harry Potter, Gen, Kansas City, Not Epilogue Compliant, Post-Canon, Pride, pride fest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:48:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24634828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willow_larkspur/pseuds/willow_larkspur
Summary: The DA goes on a trip to Kansas City and while doing the tourist thing, stumble upon Pride Fest.
Relationships: the da - Relationship
Series: Prideful Blossoms [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1612033
Comments: 2
Kudos: 57
Collections: MC4A Year 3





	Zinnia

**Author's Note:**

> Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I’m just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn’t going to get you anything but tears.  
> Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.  
> Author’s Note: Okay. So I live in Kansas City and lemme tell ya, our art museums rock, especially the Nelson-Atkins, which is roughly across the street from a modern art museum and down the street from the Kansas City Art Institute. And yes, KC does not have a parade for Pride. We have a multi-day long festival on the grounds of the Liberty Memorial (a memorial for WW2) which is lovingly known as the Flaming Phallus due to ever-burning flame on top of the tower. Well, I say “flame” but it’s an illusion made by our Power & Light people.

(^^)  
**Zinnia**  
(^^)

When the surviving members of the Defense Association decided that they were going to take a trip together the year after Dennis (the youngest of them) had graduated, none of them had anticipated ending up here. Their location had ultimately been decided by the tried and true method of throwing something sticky at a spinning globe. The timing of the trip ended up being determined by it taking nearly a year to get everyone’s paperwork and schedules arranged, especially as several of them had plus-ones to consider. Thankfully, more than one of them turned out to be wealthy enough to help cover costs for the less fortunate members of their group.

Which is how a group of wixen twenty-somethings (and one freshly minted eighteen-year-old) ended up in the middle of America in June.

‘Middle of America’ was not even an exaggeration as Kanas City was located in nearly the center of the continental portion of the country. The group toured the city and the associated cities in its immediate surroundings. Despite the relative youth of the city compared to London, there were plenty of historic sites to occupy them.

Dean and Luna adored the art museums while Hermione was thrilled with how all three of them (even the ones not directly connected to a college!) had free admission for all age groups. As the friends toured the Nelson-Atkins, most of the group only half-listened to Hermione’s surprisingly thorough lecture on the importance of sharing culturally significant artwork with the public. None of them truly had the heart to cut her off, even if it forced them to linger in the Hellenistic section longer than they had wished.

Parvati and Padma had gone silent and reverent as the group had stumbled upon the carefully maintained temple on the second floor of the Nelson. Both Patils had bowed their heads towards the lounging bodhisattva on the pedestal that the temple was dedicated to. Then they had both pulled Harry to the space between them and began to whisper an explanation of who was Avalokiteśvara. Cho had offered up a few different aliases for the being, each from a different Asian language. Harry personally thought that Guanyin was easiest to pronounce and that anyone dedicated to compassion to the point that they were revered for it would not begrudge him use of it.

The group had been crossing above the busy street in a bridge enclosed in glass when Seamus had spotted the colorful tents on the hilltop behind the building they had just left. The Irishman had wasted no time dragging their entire group back across the bridge and out into the blistering heat. Then they had all trudged up the seemingly endless stairs to the monument crowning the hill and surrounded by an absolute riot of colors.

Everywhere they looked, there were variations of rainbows. Merchants had it on much of their products. People walking by had rainbows on their clothing or bags—several even had a rainbow painted on some visible portion of their skin. There was a lot of rainbow flags as well. Interspersed with the rainbows were other color combinations in similar repeating patterns. Harry could tell that they must have some kind of meaning just like the rainbows, even if he didn’t recognize any of them.

“Be still, my flaming heart,” Seamus breathed as a grin grew on his face. “We arrived just in time for Pride!”

“We’re not actually going to attend this monstrosity, are we?” Zacharias demanded. His upper lip twisted like he was trying not to sneer. “It’s garish!”

“I hate to say this,” Susan said, looking like every syllable cost her, “because I loath the idea of agreeing with Smith in any way, shape, or form—”

“I am really feeling the love, Bones,” Zacharias quipped dryly.

“—but this does not look like something we can just attend,” Susan continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted. Her face was already turning pink from the sunlight beating down on them. “There seems to be a uniform or teams—oh, Helga’s bloomers, where are that man’s clothes?”

Harry’s gaze snapped to where she was staring in shock. The man in question wasn’t actually naked. His rainbow speed was just exceptionally small. The only other thing he wore were shoes. He did have a plastic bottle on a strap cutting across his broad and well-tanned chest. The bottle was half magenta and half indigo with a thick stripe of violet separating them. The man gave their group an exaggerated wink before he took a deep pull from the water bottle.

“Dean,” Seamus whined, “have I mentioned that I love you recently?”

“We’re not propositioning a complete stranger for a threesome.”

“But he’s so pretty,” Seamus protested. Justin, Ginny, and Padma all hummed their agreement with that assessment. A beat afterward, Luna decided to speak up as well.

“I don’t see it,” the Ravenclaw disagreed. She played with the cork necklace she wore. “He’s not so pretty that he needs to be stared at like that. Is that a face painter?”

Her grip was strong as she snagged Harry’s arm and dragged him over to the booth. Not that Harry minded being dragged places by Luna. It was different than whenever Hermione had done the same, or at least, it seemed different to Harry. That Luna tended to only do it in order to pull Harry to things that she thought he might hesitate to move towards on his own only helped him in that regard. Hermione only wanted him to go where she wanted.

“What about this one?” Luna asked, breaking him out of his thoughts. She was pointing at a zinnia with white, yellow, purple, and black petals. Harry looked nervously around them despite knowing that he was an ocean and half a country away from the Dursleys. When he nodded his approval to her, Luna’s smile was brighter than sun overhead.

And when they rejoined their friends, none of them did more than compliment the flower on his cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> Submitting Info:  
> Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 12); MC4A  
> Individual Challenges: Beauty of the Abstract; Shadow HP Bribery (Y); Cry Power; Gryffindor MC (x7); Ravenclaw MC (x2); Hufflepuff MC (x1); Magical MC (x10); Artist MC (x2); Neurodivergent (x2) (Y x1); Rian-Russo Inversion (x5) (Y); Ethnic & Present (x5); Ship Sails (Y); Setting Sail (Y); Hold the Mayo; Zed Era (Y); Old Shoes (Y); Short Jog; Bucket Listing; Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon; Skittles [Nonbinary]; Gwen’s HP Checklist [Desi Potters]  
> House: Slytherin  
> Assignment No.: Term 12 – Assignment 12  
> Subject (Task No.): Folklore (Task#1: Write a story set in North America.)  
> Other Hogwarts Challenges: Insane Prompt Challenge [581](Sunny); 365 [212](Naked); Herbology Club [Plot 3](Wonderwall - Oasis)  
> Other MC4A Challenges: Sp Bingo [3D](Rainbow); Su Bingo [5B](Trip); AU [1E](Turned Left); Hunt [Su Settings](Kanas City); Ship [](); Chim [Limu](Sharing); Fire [Hard](Nontraditional Family); Garden [Plant Types](Nontraditional Family)  
> Representation(s): Friends as Family; Desi & Autistic Harry Potter; Reclaiming Self & Heritage  
> Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Brooms Only; Car in a Tutu; A Long Dog; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; White Dress; Found Family; Nontraditional; Zucchini Bread; Mother Hen; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi; Fizzy Lemonade; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Tomorrow’s Shade)  
> Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Thimble); SN (Rail; Ameliorate); FR (Satisfaction; Liberation)  
> Word Count: 1006


End file.
